US, EU Preparing New Round Of Economic Sanctions Against Russia

(L-R) French President Francois Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi meet to discus Ukraine at the NATO summit at the Celtic Manor resort, near Newport, in Wales September 4, 2014 (Reuters / Alain Jocard)

The United States is planning a new round of sanctions aimed at the Russian Federation over the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the White House said on Thursday, and the European Union is reportedly on the verge of doing the same.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the White House is working on a new wave of sanctions against Russia, which may be imposed in tandem with embargoes expected to be announced by European Union representatives later this week. The newswire made the announcement as the White House participated in a conference-call with reporters.

According to Reuters, Deputy White House national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters that the new penalties were being finalized, but neglected to give details concerning what specific sectors will be targeted.

“The key point is that Russia must continue to face costs for its own escalation,” Rhodes said. “If Russia escalates we can escalate our pressure.”

Previously, sanctions imposed by the US and EU have targeted some of the largest banks in Russia, as well as the country’s largest oil producer, Rosneft.

Moments before it was reported that the US is working on a new round of sanctions, the Telegraph reported from the UK that its journalists were shown a confidential three-page document suggesting “all state-controlled Russian oil and defense companies will be banned from raising funds in European capital market.”

“[To] prohibit debt financing (through bonds, equities and syndicated loans) to defense companies and to all companies whose main activity is the exploration, production and transportation of oil and oil products and in which the Russian state is the majority shareholder,” the paper quoted from the EU document. “This extension would significantly increase the burden placed on the Russian state to finance its companies.”

Bruno Waterfield of the Telegraph reported from Brussels that both the US and EU will agree to impose the sanctions tomorrow, Friday, “unless Russia withdraws its military.”

“Tomorrow at the European Council … we will announces anctions and put them into action if there is no progress [on Ukraine], but everything will depend on the coming hours,” French President Francois Hollande was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Western powers allege that the Kremlin has a direct role in the escalating hostilities in eastern Ukraine, where the Kiev-based military has for weeks now been engaged in combat against separatists presumed to be supported by Russian forces. Moscow has adamantly denied this claim.

“It is an extension of the financial sanctions that are already in place,” Neil Shearing, the chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, told The Moscow Times of the EU’s expected maneuver. “The previous sanctions have set a precedent.”

US President Barack Obama is currently in Wales, where NATO alliance members are meeting throughout this week to weigh further options concerning the current situation in eastern Ukraine, as well as the international threat posed by Islamic State militants and other issues.

2 thoughts on “US, EU Preparing New Round Of Economic Sanctions Against Russia”

The Russian empire stopped using the dollar years ago.
You would think Russia is bankrupt instead of the other way around. They work overtime to make themselves look like the fools they already are…….sure, Russia is quaking in their boots……..what a gaggle of fools.

If one looks at the EU, all of them have debt level to GDP in hundreds of percentages. The EU and the US are the few remaining organizations still using the worthless dollar.
This is so pathetic and absurd, it will not make major headlines, yet, even if it were news of value, it would not be covered by the US news that isn’t.

Over half the world no longer accepts the dollar. The major coalition that still uses it is the EU. When the EU stops using the dollar (I saw when, not if), the dollar will collapse.
Yet, they go on giving orders to the world which has left them behind…….they have no audience left……..the Sick Man of the Americas thinks they still have an audience. They are all fear mongering ISIS…..it is bigger than the UK now……..a CIA creation, how many more lies must the US pour out? And, guess where ISIS must be beaten first?
Syria……..and we know what Putin told Obama about Syria…….stay out or he will hit the US back.

ISIS is now “a long fight”, created and funded by the US. This is such crap. Now, they are warning of another 911 from ISIS. These are pure lies, not a touch of truth in any of it…….how can people listen to this rubbish? They are putting the Obama puppet up to speak, so I turned it off…….it is insulting to anyone with a mind………
He speaks from a NATO summit? NATO is US owned. His first threat is about ISIS…..sorry, folks, cannot listen to any more. This is US propaganda, created and pushed by the US…….these greedy war mongers want more destruction, and they will have it until the Sick Man of the Americas can no longer produce it.
Then, they will go to the latest power base to create more endless wars……..
Then, more wars will continue until we no longer exist.
No reference to the US, the crumbling EU or any others…….lets keep the insanity going until man no longer exists.
Meanwhile, Fukushima goes on, over population continues, and mindless activities go on without end.
Yet, no work is done to resolve it’s damage, salmon is at 1% of normal…….the fish are dead, 50% of the world’s oxygen came from the Pacific. Another dead body of water feeds into it……the Gulf of Mexico……
We face our own extinction. If Russia doesn’t do it, than who will?

The US speaks with one voice, it has the states forced to follow their dictates. The EU has a divided union

One other point I neglected to make: Every sanction these idiots enact only empowers Putin to set his own service (already fully established, funded and running) into the place of the banks or oil outlets.
They tried to squeeze Russia by refusing to accept their credit cards. Russia responded by putting China’s Union card into place, already 10 years strong, leaving the greedy gut banks in the west without a strong customer.
I am sure within a few years, their card will be used in the EU, South and Central America, much of Africa, India, Japan, Turkey, Iran…..and many others I am not listing.

Over half the world no longer uses the dollar. Australia, New Zealand, most African emerging nations and (of course) rich South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Japan, India, Switzerland (the latest nation to join BRICS)China, and all the strong BRICS leaders. There are other nations as well, but I cannot list them all from memory. I know Australia dumped the dollar, but am not sure of their financial affiliations.

Every stupid sanction simply gives Putin the opening he needs to put his own system into place. The genius of Putin is that he established a sister economy to the west, except all the players (excepting possibly China, but they have all the blueprints for every technology from power plants to semiconductors) are solvent. All of their members are making money, not practicing Enron accounting.

Every part he set up is nearly identical, except his players have the money. And, when all is said and done, that is what matters.